Pat Kasner has overseen the growth of the Flint Street Fellowship food pantry as volunteer director for 13 years, but come March 1, she’s planning to retire.
“I first got involved when I was volunteering at a pancake breakfast at Holiday Island,” Pat said. “One of the women asked if I would like to volunteer at the pantry. I started working there when things were very different. We just had a small storeroom. Not as many people came in for help. I did that for a year, and then the existing managers were going to retire.”
The retiring manager, out of desperation, asked Pat to take over, and “out of the blue” she said yes.
“I realized that was God directing me to do it,” Pat said. “I certainly had no skills for the job nor aspirations to do it, but God knew I was available. I didn’t have any family demands from Iowa where I was from and my husband, Ed, was agreeable to it.”
The previous manager, Elsie Johns, was instrumental in starting and growing the pantry beginning in 1990.
“She had it in her heart to have a soup kitchen as well as a pantry,” Pat said. “In 1997, they were able to add the kitchen up front and two handicapped accessible bathrooms. Eureka Springs Rotary helped immensely with funding those additions.”
Pat became director of the pantry in the fall of 2005.
“When I took over, only three or four people were coming in for lunch,” she said. “We closed the lunch program at that time so we could revamp and start over. We restarted the lunch program, which is free and open to the public, with two cooks. Over time more cooks signed on until eventually we had a different cook for each lunch day of the month. The cooks each make a wonderful meal each time since they only have to devote one day per month. Gradually the numbers started increasing, and currently we average about twenty to twenty-five guests per lunch.”
The mealtimes aren’t just about food. People come in to visit with each other, get warmed up or cooled down, and sometimes pick up free clothing.
Lunches are served Tuesdays and Thursdays. Doors open at 10 a.m. for coffee, cookies and fruit, then lunch is served from 11 a.m. – 12:30. They also give takeouts if that is what someone needs.
The food pantry is open Mondays and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and serves about 140 families a month. Pantry shelves and other services have expanded greatly from the early days, which Pat attributes to the generosity of the community.
“Eureka Springs, Holiday Island and Beaver Lake area residents are extremely generous and involved communities,” she said. “I haven’t had to solicit for anything. The food and financial donations just come in as we need them. It has just been amazing to me. God has been working through people. I believe He knows I am not a solicitor or promoter. I’m shy about those things. But He has brought to us what we needed, whether it be volunteers or food or money. It has been such a blessing to see Him work. The community has been so generous helping with whatever all the non-profits need.”
The pantry is quite full now helped by the Boy Scout Food drive in the fall, the Zombie Crawl organized by Jeff and Christina Danos, and donations during the Hillberry Festival at the Farm. The American Legion, Rotary Clubs and churches have all donated generously throughout the years.
“It boggles my mind how generous people have been,” Pat said. “We are very, very grateful.”
The Carroll County Community Foundation Giving Tree and Youth Area Council give two grants a year, which have helped fund the Back Our Kids program that provides food bags for school children on the weekends. Grants also helped Flint Street add freezers and refrigerators.
Pat said she knows God will bring a new director.
“It would be better to have two or three people doing the job,” Pat said. “It has been a big demand on my time, but also rewarding. What better thing to be doing than helping others and ministering to them when possible. I would love to have someone step forward who wants to be involved in this and it could be organized to be less demanding on the director. We have a ten-member board that is a very big help.”
Pat treats patrons of the food pantry with respect.
“We could all be there needing help due to a health problem or losing your job,” she said. “There is nothing more rewarding than actually seeing people do better. That is what we really strive for, to help relieve stress on those in need. Winter can be a challenging time because there is less work in this area.”
The Flint Street Fellowship also puts on dinners on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day at the ECHO Clinic.
“We try to make it as nice a dinner as possible for whoever needs to come.” Pat said. “Rich Goodyear has been our cook for those dinners for many years. He is also one of our regular cooks at the pantry. He does a big, big job when he does those holiday dinners. It is wonderful to have his help. He is just amazing.”
Pat is also head of music at Faith Bible Church in Holiday Island, and was in the Ozarks Chorale for many years. She worked as a technician in the engineering department of a gas company for 29 years before she and her husband moved to the Ozarks.
After her husband passed away two years ago, she has had more responsibilities at home and now hopes to have more time for other things and especially visiting family in Iowa.
“And a new director in conjunction with the board would have the freedom to make improvements as they see the need,” she said.
Ray Johnson, treasurer of the fellowship, said Pat has “impacted contributions from people because she is so friendly,” he said. “I would say she is irreplaceable, but she has already decided she has to go. And we will listen. We are going to really miss her.”